


Milky Way

by martinnn



Series: Bad End Nightmares [3]
Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, Mink says more than like 3 words, Mink's Good End, Nightmares, Post-Canon, the ending deserves to be thrown in the TRASH
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-20 15:46:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13149822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/martinnn/pseuds/martinnn
Summary: The world of his dreams is literally ablaze.





	Milky Way

Mink was… rougher than any other lover Aoba had been with-- which really wasn’t saying much considering Mink was one of Aoba’s only _serious_ lover. He handled things-- physically and mentally-- with dignified coarseness. He was curt with his words. He radiated masculinity and control and all utter encompassing power. 

And Aoba, in all seriousness, loved him like that. He loved knowing that Mink was a strong man, a sure presence in the vastness of this new continent so far away from home that he lived on. Though he did help, Mink was essentially the one who put the food on the table and kept the fire going when the nights were cold.

Aoba loved him and he loved Aoba and everything was perfect.

Until the nightmares started.

The first thing Aoba remembers about them are the fires. The world of his dreams is literally ablaze, heat and smoke making his eyes water. The second part is the screaming. Over the cackle of the trees crashing around him, the screams of agony could be heard still. People crying for help or crying out for loved ones or people just plain crying. The worst part was that Aoba couldn’t save them. He couldn’t distinguish them though the burning foliage; he could only see their shadows.

And then there was Mink. He stood like a silent stone figure amid the flames, his eyes cold, hard and unwavering. Aoba, even though he willed himself not to, always rushed to him, only to be intercepted and thrown to the ground. Dream-Aoba was a little different than real Aoba. Real-Aoba’s brain told him that he didn’t like the treatment, but Dream-Aoba’s body told a different story. His dreamself got hard under the way Mink contorted his body. His dreamself loved the way his clothes were torn away and his body violated, marred, and all around destroyed by Mink. He struggled, but ultimately couldn’t overpower Mink. His real self didn’t like it; he knew that he didn’t want Mink to touch him. It was raw and dirty and defaming and ultimately, at the end of it all, every time without fail, Mink beheaded him. This is when Aoba woke in a sweat, nerves on his neck on edge. Mink had to protect his soul from the devil; he killed Aoba. 

Every morning, Aoba had to tell himself it was just a dream. Mink wouldn’t _actually_ do that to him. He’d been nothing but loving since he got here-- okay maybe there in the beginning, they struggled, but even after that rocky start, Mink was kind. But that didn’t stop Aoba’s inevitable weariness of him. When he was forced to live through Mink beheading him on the daily, it was kind of impossible not to begin to fear the man.

So he started initiating less amourous actions. He began sitting further away from Mink when possible. He pulled away from kisses and hugs (which were already pretty rare) almost too quickly. He forced himself not to flinch when they brushed against each other. But the thing that tore him, and Mink, up the most was his refusal to let Mink touch his hair. Before, Mink would comb through the locks, calloused fingers braiding the long strands and adding beads and feathers. Ever since his nightmares started, Aoba wouldn’t let Mink near his head. Even as the braids he had became matted and the feathers rumpled, Aoba refused to sit still long enough for the man to redo anything. Just the thought of his hands close to his neck sent unnecessary chills down Aoba’s spine. He knew, of course, that he was being ridiculous. _They were just dreams._ But they were dreams that left him shaking in the morning. 

Mink and he functioned like this for a little while, the former understanding the need for personal space because God knew he needed it too. But when Aoba’s fear became to great that he began shying away from sex, that was when the strain became too much. 

It was at the end of the day. Mink was laying on their bed, idly flipping through a book when Aoba finished with his shower and came into their bedroom. Aoba swallowed, changed into his sleep clothes rather methodically slow, and came to sit-- or more accurately _perch_ \-- on the edge of the bed. Mink didn’t even look up from his book and Aoba hoped his sigh wasn’t so audible and he leaned back a bit more relaxed.

Of course all that tension immediately returned to his muscles the moment Mink’s hand left his book to come and settle on the junction between Aoba’s shoulder and neck. It was way too much way too smoothly for Aoba to handle and he was quick to squirm out of of the man’s grip. He fumbled out some excuse of being tired and going to sleep, but Mink’s low voice stopped him.

“Aoba.”

Mink had folded down the page of his book and now set Aoba with a piercing gaze. Aoba momentarily hated that Mink no longer wore contacts; he didn’t like the way Mink’s golden eyes bore into his without the armour of the blue lenses. He then mentally berated himself because he loved Mink’s real eye colour, what the hell was wrong with him?

Mink spoke again. “Did something happen? Between us, I mean. You’ve been very evasive. If-- If I did something wrong, I would want to know so that I could fix--”

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Aoba cut in resolutely. “It’s nothing I just don’t feel like--”

“Like being receptive to affection?” Mink accused and Aoba flushed shamefully at his blunt way of putting it. “Because you haven’t been ‘feeling it’ for weeks now and it’s concerning.”

Aoba looked down at his hands. Mink wasn’t wrong. But was there a nice way to say _Hey, sorry I don’t want sex, I’ve been having dreams of you raping me and then cutting off my head._ He knew he should tell Mink; nothing would ever get resolved otherwise. But he didn’t know if he could handle Mink’s possible frigidness after such revelation. What if Mink really though him mad or sick and cast him out? So he instead shrugged and remained silent. 

Mink sighed. The hand that was previously touching Aoba now rested on the worn cover of his book. “Is it because you see me _too_ much?” He ventured to ask. “Are you lonely out here?”

Aoba shook his head. He sometimes got bored when Mink was out, but he liked it here. “Really, it’s nothing. Just a personal problem I need to work through.”

Mink tisked which made Aoba look up. “‘Personal problem’,” Mink echoed with a sneer. “You’re really going to try and pull that one on me? You should know better than anyone that ‘personal problems’ don’t just go away that easy.”

Aoba looked away guiltily. Of course he knew that. Mink had fought his personal problem with his tribe all his life and her Aoba was being hypocritical in that he refused to seek help or even talk about it. He sighed. “I-- I don’t know, Mink. It’s just-- Well, just recently, I guess, I’ve been having these dreams. Or just one reoccuring dream. It’s dark and scary and I’m never really sure of what’s going on. But you’re in them. And you’re… scary. You-- I always want to run to you, but you beat me and hurt me and-- and I guess at the end you-- well it’s like you kill me. I wake up with a tingling on my neck….” Aoba’s throat closed up in shame. His eyes were screwed shut. He felt bad; worse than before because oh my god he upset Mink didn’t he. The man who had done nothing but love and support him was the same man he was _terrified_ of. He didn’t want to look up, didn’t want to see the undeniable angst that would be on the man’s face. Or maybe it would be anger. Would Mink be angry at his delusions?

A hand on his chin shopped his reeling mind. The hand forced him to turn his face up and he instinctively opened his eyes. Mink was looking at him with those cool eyes and fear began to flood Aoba’s veins because that’s exactly how he looked at him in the dreams--

“Aoba, stop shaking.”

With a breath, Aoba realized his muscles were quivering and he forced himself to breath and calm down.

Mink removed his hand, sensing Aoba’s distress. He was silent and Aoba was almost okay with that because he knew Mink wasn’t good with words.

“Aoba… whatever you’re… experiencing right now, it’s going to be okay.”

Aoba’s brows creased. “Mink… really, you don’t--”

“No, Aoba, let me say this. You must be terrified. What you just told me sounds horrible. But-- they are just dreams. Just dreams, which means they can’t hurt you. Not physically. I am here with you now. Let me protect you. Even if it seems scary or hopeless or… whatever. You trust me do you not?”

Aoba nodded his head. “Yes, I do.”

“Then trust that I am here for you. Always. I can’t protect you from everything. But I can try, can I not?”

Aoba lifted his eyes to meet Mink’s. The assuredness in them was enough to move Aoba’s fear out of the way. He nodded once again and though he couldn’t find it in himself to reach out and touch Mink, he knew that with time, they would get past this. He trusted Mink.

“I am here with you. Always.”


End file.
